{{Short description|American bishop, academic administrator and college president (1870–1944)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = James Albert Bray | image = J. Albert Bray.jpg | birth_date = August 23, 1870 | birth_place = Carnesville, Georgia, U.S. | office = 3rd President of Miles College | term_start = 1907 | term_end = 1902 | office1 = 2nd President of Lane College | term_start1 = 1903 | term_end1 = 1907 | successor = William Augustus Bell | predecessor = R. S. Williams | resting_place = Lincoln Cemetery | death_date = {{death date and age|1944|09|01|1870|08|23|mf=yes}} | death_place = Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. | occupation = Minister, bishop, educator, academic administrator, college president, editor | spouse = Mattie B. Davis (m. 1902–1910; death),<br/> Martha Freeman Childs | children = 2 | successor1 = James Franklin Lane | predecessor1 = T. F. Saunders }}
Rev. '''James Albert Bray''' (1870–1944) was an American bishop, educator, academic administrator, and college president. He was the 18th bishop of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church (later known as the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church or CME), elected in 1934. Bray served as president of Lane College, and Miles Memorial College (now Miles College), two private historically black colleges affiliated with the CME Church.
== Early life and education == James Albert Bray was born on August 23, 1870 in Carnesville, Georgia.<ref name="Murphy">{{Cite book |last=Murphy |first=Larry G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fxsmAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |title=Encyclopedia of African American Religions |last2=Melton |first2=J. Gordon |last3=Ward |first3=Gary L. |date=2013-11-20 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-51338-2 |pages=114 |language=en}}</ref> He was the eldest of six children, and his parents were Mary France (née Webster) and Andrew Jackson Bray.<ref name="Murphy" /> He attended rural public school in Franklin County, Georgia, followed by high school in Athens, Georgia.<ref name="Murphy" />
Bray received his B.A. degree in 1893 from Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University).<ref name="Murphy" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_rQRAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA72 |title=Who's Who in Colored America |date=1942 |publisher=Who's Who in Colored America Corporation |editor-last=Yenser |editor-first=Thomas |volume=6 |pages=72 |language=en}}</ref> In 1906, he took graduate level philosophy courses at Harvard University,<ref name="Murphy" /> and education courses at the University of Chicago.<ref name=":0" /> He received honorary degree from Wilberforce University (LLD in 1909).<ref name="Murphy" />
== Career == After graduation from college, Bray went into teaching.<ref name="Murphy" /> He served as the president of Georgia State Teachers Association from 1898 to 1899.<ref name="Murphy" />
Bray was ordained as a deacon in 1900, and an elder in 1901 by the church.<ref name="Murphy" /> From 1902 to 1903, he served as a pastor at Trinity CME Church in Augusta, Georgia; and at the same time period he was the principal of West Broad Street School in Athens, Georgia, the first black school in the state.<ref name="Murphy" /> In 1902, Bray was the CME Church representative for the Negro Congress meeting in Atlanta.<ref name="Murphy" />
In 1903, Bray was elected president of Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee, a role he maintained until 1907.<ref name="Murphy" /> He was president of Miles Memorial College (now Miles College) in Fairfield, Alabama, from 1907 to 1912.<ref name="Murphy" />
Bray was a delegate to the World Methodist Ecumenical Conference held in Toronto in 1911.<ref name="Murphy" /> He edited a journal named ''Voice of the People''.<ref name="Murphy" />
He was ordained as bishop by Lucius Henry Holsey in 1934.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="JNH" /> He served as the president of the CME church's board of religious education; from 1938 until 1944, he led the episcopal district (including Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, and Illinois).<ref name="Murphy" /> He pushed for change and he opposed poll tax, lobbied for better treatment for Blacks in the military, and more industry jobs for Black citizens.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sittser |first=Gerald L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ia3qCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA185 |title=A Cautious Patriotism: The American Churches and the Second World War |date=2000-11-09 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-6454-8 |pages=185 |language=en}}</ref>
== Death == Bray died on September 1, 1944 in Little Rock, Arkansas.<ref name="JNH">{{Cite journal |date=1945-01-01 |title=James Albert Bray|journal=The Journal of Negro History |language=en |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=108–109 |doi=10.1086/JNHv30n1p108 |issn=0022-2992}}</ref> He is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, a historically African American cemetery in Blue Island, Illinois.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}}
== Personal life == In 1902, he married Mattie B. Davis, together they had one daughter.<ref name="Murphy" /> His wife Mattie died in 1910.<ref name="Murphy" /> He remarried his second wife Martha Freeman Childs, and together they had a daughter.<ref name="Murphy" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, James Albert}} Category:1870 births Category:1944 deaths Category:American Methodist bishops Category:African-American academic administrators Category:Burials at Lincoln Cemetery (Cook County) Category:Clark Atlanta University alumni Category:Presidents of Lane College Category:People of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church Category:Presidents of Miles College